The Birth of a Monster
by machiavellianFictionist
Summary: Short story about the first months of Uehi Sora in Rukongai. A story of corruption and violence. Originally written for Halcyon Days. I don't own Bleach, Kubo Taito does. Rated M for violence.
1. Death is Just the Beginning

How is a monster born? Not just any monster, but one in particular. One who lived inside of a man and grows trying to overcome his whole being. This man, not wishing to be a monster anymore, became a god. Was the monster there by the time of his birth, besides a road in the south american mountains? Was the monster awakened in the streets of the farther districts of Rukongai? Sora himself wandered this sometimes. In the nights when he didn't travel to his inner world, he dreamt about his past. Like last night, when his dream took him back more than twenty years, to the city of Tokyo.

"Anytime now..." Sora whispered as he waited crouched behind a small group of bushes.

He had his finger ready on the trigger. The lenses were correctly adjusted. He had his sight on his target and held his instrument with an iron pulse. Eight days in a row he had missed them. He had been able to learn their pattern. They moved between certain locations every day, never landing on the same place. He had studied the area and found the best spot from where to take his shot. He had his target on sight, but he needed it to move.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Sora whispered.

He had learned that patience was one of the most important virtues for his line of work. His words were just product of his excitement. Just then, it happened. Sora pressed the trigger repeatedly, as his target arose. In a matter of seconds, the images of more than twenty birds flying from a tree at the break of dawn were captured on his camera.

A couple of hours later, the young man was sitting in a small cafe in one of the few quiet streets of Tokyo. Taking sips from his espresso, Sora flipped the pages of the latest Amazing Spiderman, feeling quite pleased with himself. He had left the negatives to be revealed, and so he'd probably go pick them up tomorrow. Just then, he heard a familiar voice calling him.

"Hey, Sora!" the voice said. "How's it going, pal?

"It's going great, Sakurai," the young photographer smiled at his friend. "How about you? Is life treating you well?"

"Meh, I have nothing to complain about," the other man shrugged. "So, I have great news for you! Remember those pictures you took at Hinamizawa?"

"The ones of the festival? Yeah I remember those," Sora answered. "What about them?"

"Well," Sakurai started, "The guys at Nat Geo loved them and they want to send you to South Africa to take pictures of some tribes at the Kalahari Desert!"

"Wait, seriously?" Sora said astonished. "That's fantastic! I've always wanted to go to Africa!"

"Yeah, good for you," the other man replied. "Here, you have to call this number for the confirmation and all the other details. Now, if you excuse me, I have a train to catch."

Sora said goodbye to his friend and, a few minutes later, finished his coffee and began his short trip to the train station. His friends always told him that he should get a car, or at least a motorcycle, but he had more important things to pay for. Thinking on what he would do once he got home, he was about to cross the street, when he saw something that was officially the strangest think he had ever seen. Standing on the intersection of two main streets was a large black creature, of about twenty foot tall, with large beefy arms and froglike legs. Its head was white and had a sort of twisted horns and a pair of wide jaws. What was stranger was that nobody seemed to notice the monster. Well, except for one driver who, after yelling in terror at the sight of the creature, tried to avoid colliding with it, causing a reaction that ended up in a terrible traffic accident.

From the many cars that started drifting and colliding, one went in the way of the young photographer. A second later Sora was flying through the air and the next moment there was nothing but darkness. After what seemed like hours to him, Sora opened his eyes again, and saw that he hadn't spend so much time in the darkness after all. He was still lying on the same street, but things had somehow changed. For example, the first thing that caught his attention was the short chain that was hanging from his chest. The thing was attached to a metal plate on his shirt and ended after just a few inches. Then, as if it wasn't enough, he saw himself lying still in the middle of the street. He didn't really had time to ask himself what the hell was going on, since he noticed that he had just caught the black beast's attention. The monster, after swallowing what looked like the driver who had started the accident, ran its tongue across its lips and went after him.

Driven by the human survival instinct and fueled by pure adrenaline, Sora got up on his feet and started running, barely noticing how he could walk through people now. The young spirit tried to escape the monster, but his speed was no match for the creature. Sora took a right and entered an alley, hoping that his chaser's size would help him, but a large hand took hold of him and lifted his body before he could get too far.

The monster raised him up to its jaws, which he opened wide to swallow him whole. Sora screamed and prepared for the worse, but just then, he heard someone speaking behind him. He didn't really understand what he said, but he did hear the last word, Byakurai.

A white beam went right next to his head, hitting the monster right on its left eye. Shrieking in pain, the creature left Sora fall to the ground. Landing on his side, the spirit look up after a few seconds and saw a man dressed in black and wielding a katana cut the monster's face in half. As the creature fell and began disappearing, the man with the sword gracefully landed on his feet right next to Sora. Before the spirit could say anything, the man flipped his blade and pressed the bottom of his handle against Sora's forehead. There was a bright light and then darkness once again.

When Sora opened his eyes, he found himself lying on his back on the dirt. He tried to get up, but had to roll aside to avoid being run over by some guy dressed in rags and the three men that seemed to be chasing him. Once he could get up, he looked around and saw a bunch of shabby hovels and wooden houses.

"Okay, what the fuck just happened?" Sora asked to no one in particular. "What is this place?"

"What is this place?," a blind man holding a bottle of liquor in front of a tavern, according to a sign next to the door, was the one who answered. "This is the fucking afterlife. What a bummer, right?"


	2. First Steps

"This is the fucking afterlife. What a bummer, right?" the words still ringed in his ears.

"What a piece of shit," Sora muttered before drinking the last few drops of his sake.

"For your own safety, kid," the barkeeper said, "I hope you're not talking about the booze."

Sora put his glass down and looked at him. Yuzo, that was his name, was the short blind man who ran the tavern. He had been living, if he could still use that word, in this place for more than a hundred years. He had lost his sight before his death, so not only he was quite accustomed to his state, but his other senses had developed to compensate for it. After some work as a henchman, the first job most successful people in the outer districts took, he managed to save up enough money to open his famous tavern. Many people wondered about how come a single blind guy could run his own business safely in the seventy-eight district. Those people have never seen Yuzo wielding a lead pipe. Most of those who have usually need canes to walk properly.

"No, it's not that," Sora shook his head and pushed the glass towards the barkeeper. "It's just… This whole thing, this place… It's Rukongai, right? I never thought the afterlife would be like this. I mean, first some monster wants to eat me, then this guy hits me in the head with his sword and then I'm here!"

Yuzo smirked and refilled Sora's glass. The newcomer wasn't sure why had he came in. It might have something to do with the man offering him free drinks, or the fact that his brain still wouldn't take the whole dying business very well. Apparently the others weren't too surprised about a man popping out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Stiff like that tend to lose their charm when you see it happening everyday all around the city. Still, Yuzo couldn't help but feeling sorry for Sora, and so he decided to cover his tab for the day. Besides, Yuzo wouldn't admit it, but the kid seemed very promising. Guys like him get along well with the employees of these areas. Still, Sora was nothing but a newcomer, he needed some guidance.

"Okay, kid, let me break it up for you," Yuzo put down the glass he was cleaning and took a short stick, with which he began drawing circle in the dirt with surprising precision. "I'm only going to say this once; here's how it is so listen good."

And so, he began telling Sora all about the world he had arrived to. He began from the basics on souls. He told him about the plus, the hollow and the shinigami. Then, he moved onto Rukongai and Seireitei. If Sora had been a reaper then, he'd have felt a bit offended. Even so, he was drunk enough not to get the no-so-subtle shots he took at them. After a few hours, Sora was familiar with how this new world functioned and even knew a bit about the underworld that was the outer districts.

"So, that's the deal," Yuzo finished and went back to gleaning glasses. "Now the deal is what will be your part in all this?"

"Huh?" Sora gulped more booze before talking; surprisingly speaking quite well despite all the liquor he had in him. "What do you mean my part?"

"Well, this place is not paradise, as you might have seen," the man waved his hand at the tavern. "Everybody here survives by playing a role in this fucked up society we have here. You have to find your place here and deal with it."

Yuzo wiped the dust of his last mug and went to the back of the bar. After a few seconds he came back, wielding a large wooden club. For a moment Sora thought he was going to attack him and almost fell off his stool trying to get away, but the blind man just put the weapon in his hands.

"Here, take this," he said. "You can start as my bouncer. This place is getting too big for me to handle by myself, so I need someone else to take care of the security once in a while. I can only pay you with food and booze, though. You can sleep in the tables until you can find something better. Now go! I think I can hear a fight over there in that corner!"

"All right," Sora sighted, his brain numbed by the alcohol. "I guess I don't have too many options anyways, do I?"

The young man gripped the club with both hands and tried to hold it right. It was quite heavy and it could certainly do some damage if used right. It was a little too brutish for Sora's taste, but it'd have to do. He turned to the corned pointed by Yuzo. Just as he had said, two men were grabbing a man by his shoulders and slamming him against the table, while other two engaged in a drunken brawl, doing more damage to themselves than to their opponents. Sora sighted once again and pushed his way through the place. It was going to be a long night. By the end of it, Sora had knocked out five men, tossed three drunkards out of the building and broke a man's jaw with a wooden chair, which didn't came out of the encounter quite well either.

Time passed and; between brawls, broken bones, three broken clubs and dozens of hangovers; he started to get used to his new lifestyle. His hands forgot the feel of a camera and grew accustomed to the weight of the club. He lost the fear of hurting another person and found a sort of accomplishment in beating a gang of drunken troublemakers until they fell drooling on the wooden boards. However, the real change came a bit more than a month after his arrival. The day that followed his encounter with the shady-looking man would be one to set the course of his life in ways he would have never imagined.


End file.
